News

By the Numbers

—Jennifer Hlad1/21/2016

AFA Caption

Conventional maintenance
crewmembers assigned to the Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron put the finishing touches on a Guided Bomb Unit 31 version 3
at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia on July 30, 2015. Air
Force photo by TSgt. Jeff Andrejcik.

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As of Dec. 15, the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria has cost $5.53 billion, or $11 million per day, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said on Jan. 20. The coalition has flown 65,492 sorties in the air campaign, and conducted 9,782 air strikes, including 6,516 in Iraq and 3,266 in Syria, Warren said in a press briefing televised from Baghdad. Since May, coalition strikes have killed about 95 senior and mid-level ISIS leaders, Warren said. Additionally, the coalition has provided basic combat training for 16,715 troops, he said. Even though Iraqi forces raised the country’s flag over the provincial government center in Ramadi in late December, Warren said Iraqi forces are still doing the “extremely slow” work of clearing the city. So far, troops have cleared most of the downtown city center, finding thousands of booby traps, minefields, houses rigged to explode, and other improvised explosive devices, Warren said. Coalition strikes killed “several thousand enemy fighters” in the city, he said, but there is no timeline for when the clearing process will be completed.